


Winter Wonderland

by Selenicereus



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: DIY or die, First Aid, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Jack is dad, Mac hurt, MacGyver-ism, Patty is mom, Survival, Survival Training, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8849137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selenicereus/pseuds/Selenicereus
Summary: "Too many things went wrong so fast that the only reason for it was that there was a leak in their system somewhere. Someone had ratted them out and left them out in the cold to die, literally."
Mac, Jack and Riley find themselves running though a forest in the middle of a snowstorm after their mission is blown. As the three of them try to figure out how to survive Mac gets hurt and has to sit on the sidelines.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I had to delete the original post for this. It kept registering as rape/non-con even though I kept changing it to No Archive warning.
> 
> Editing ongoing.

The mission had gone sideways fast. In fact, looking back, Mac thought they were probably blown the moment they set foot in Russia. Too many things went wrong so fast that the only reason for it was that there was a leak in their system somewhere. Someone had ratted them out and left them out in the cold to die, literally.

“Mac, come on. We’ve gotta keep moving.” Jack tugged Mac’s arm, pulling the boy out of his thoughts. “It’s not going to take ‘em long to find out trail.”

Mac looked back at the clear rut they had made in the snow, even a blind man could follow them with a trail like this.

“I’m freezing my toes off while you two are making small talk.” Riley complained.

She was a few yards ahead of where Mac had stopped. The wind was picking up blowing the snow directly into their faces, and it had them all pulling their coats tighter around their shoulders. If they stayed out here much longer they wouldn’t have to worry about the KGB catching them, they’d all freeze to death before then.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Jack yelled back, the looked at Mac. “Oh, no. Mac you got that look.”

MacGyver had dropped his pack and broken off a few tree branches from the nearest evergreen. Now he was now ripping his coat apart. “What look?” He asked Jack as he pulled a cord from the now ruined coat.

“The ‘All I need is a paperclip and I can make a bomb’ look.” Jack said.

“I’m not making a bomb.” Mac said distractedly.

He was searching though his backpack but he couldn’t find his knife.

“What’s he making?” Riley had walked back to join the boys.

“Hell if I know.” Jack shrugged. “Mac, what do you need?”

Mac looked around before answering Jack. “Pull off a few more branches. They need to be like these two, thick enough so they won’t break easy and plenty of green to spread out the weight. We need four of them.”

Jack nodded. Dropping his own pack Jack went to attack a tree. Riley moved closer to Mac to try and block some of the wind.

“What are you making?” She asked.

Mac had found Swiss Army knife and was cutting the cord from his coat into lengths. “Snow shoes.” He answered. “Place your foot in the center of this branch.”

Riley did as she was told and Mac nudged her foot until it was where he wanted it. Kneeling in the snow Mac started tying the branch to Riley’s boot. He was making the last knot when Jack returned this the rest of the branches.

“Perfect,” Mac looked at Jack’s coat. “Now I need you to rip open your coat and pull out the drawstrings.”

Jack rolled his eyes as he shrugged out of his coat. “Damn it’s freezing.” He complained as he quickly pulled the strings from his coat.

“Here,” Mac passed his knife to Jack. “Make lengths about three feet long.”

Jack pulled his mangled coat back on before he stared cutting the cords. Mac was working on tying the second branch to Riley’s foot.

This would solve their immediate problem: leaving an obvious trail. But they also needed shelter and a way to contact Patricia. There was no signal for their phones and the sat-phone had been lost when they had been forced off the road by the bad guys and crashed into the forest. That was when they had decided to run through Russia in winter with no supplies and no plan.

So, as Mac directed Jack to tie the branches to his boots, he started working on a solution for problem number two. First thing to consider was what he knew. He knew Patricia would be trying to locate them because their last contact had been an SOS. So it stood to reason that Phoenix would be tapping into satellites and any other surveillance at and around their last known location. Of courses their last known location was in the car on a back road with zero cameras and the trees blocking most of the view from any satellites. The car’s GPS would let Patty know when the car was but not where the team was. So, all Mac had to do was make a GPS single to let Patty know where they were.

Luckily smart phone these days come with their own GPS’s built in. Now in cities or anywhere with Wi-Fi your phone will use the Wifi networks to help GPS pinpoint where your phone is. But that doesn’t mean you need Wifi to have GPS in your phone. So even though none of their phones had signal it didn’t mean they couldn’t make a beacon for Patty to find them.

“Done.” Jack announced as he stood up from tying the branch to his boot.

Mac was tying the second branch to his own shoe as he though and was almost done himself. “Alright, we need to start moving again. Jack take point. Riley, I’m going to need to borrow your computer.”

They started off as soon as Mac’s DYI snowshoe was secure. They were still leaving tracks but they weren’t as obvious as before which meant it would be harder for anyone to follow them and the wind would help cover the tracks they did leave faster.

As they walked Mac instructed Riley as to what parts he needed from her computer. He would of done it himself, but she had insisted on tearing apart the computer herself, saying that computers fell under her job description.

Soon Mac had put together an antenna and amplifier and attached them to his phone. Turning on the GPS Mac held the antenna up as high as he could hoping it would be enough to get through the tree’s canopy and be strong enough to get an accurate location.

Now at any given time there are twenty-four GPS satellites orbiting earth, which in turn means that at any time any single spot on earth is in line of sight of about eight to ten satellites, and it only takes four of those satellites to get an accurate location. The GPS finds that location by figuring out the strength of the satellites that are receiving a signal and triangulating the origin of the signal. Simple.

So as long as he had built the antenna and amp right then anyone looking in the area should be able to locate their GPS signal.

Now onto the next problem: not freezing to death. The snow was coming down heavier and would soon be a full blown blizzard with their luck. Mac had been keeping half an eye on their surroundings but there was nothing in sight except more trees. At some point he had lost feeling in his fingers and couldn’t feel his feet at all. His coat with the tears in it was much more porous to the wind and he knew Jack was in the same boat. Riley hand her hands tucked under her arms for warmth but Jack had his gun out in case anyone snuck up on them, which meant his hands were probably half frozen.

“Jack.” Mac called, making their little company come to a halt. “We can’t keep going like this we’re going to freeze.”

“I’m with you man, but there’s no Holiday Inn around here.” Jack waved his arms around to emphasize his point.

“Then we’ll just have to make our own.” Mac looked around. “There,” He pointed at the biggest tree he could see. “We’ll use that tree as our own Holliday Inn.”

Jack looked and nodded his agreement. “It’ll take a little work but we can manage.”

The three of them made their way over to the tree and Jack immediately stared breaking off branches on the leeward side of the tree.

“How can I help?” Riley asked.

Mac looked at her. She was shivering and her face was red from early stages of frostbite. He knew that he couldn’t be much better but he was trained to survive and she wasn’t. He had to protect her.

“Start digging a trench in the snow where Jack is clearing away the branches. Make a space big enough for the three of us to sit comfortably. Once it’s about a foot or two deep gather as many fallen pine nettles as you can and layer them on the bottom for insulation.”

She nodded and started to work. Jack was moving the branches he had cleared off so that they were on the windward side and would block as much wind as possible. They would need a new cover for their shelter so they didn’t end up buried in snow. A few feet away Jack had dropped his backpack, which Mac promptly took.

Mac started tearing the backpacks apart and laying the pieces next to each other. Riley saw what he was doing and offered her own back pack after emptying it of her things. Soon Mac has two sections each nine feet by four feet. It was almost enough. Mac grabbed the duct tape he had dumped form his pack earlier and started taping the fabric into its new form.

“I’m done.” Riley said as she crouched down next to Mac.

Mac looked at the little nook she had made. There was a thick layer of pine nettles in a divot about nine feet by six. “Looks great Ri. Would you mind gathering more nettles? We’re going to stuff them between these two layers for insulation.”

So Riley started gathering more nettles. Making sure no one was watching (namely Jack) Mac took his coat off and tore it to make up the extra feet of fabric he needed. Working quickly he finished taping the fabric together then he picked up his phone with the make shift antenna. If he could set it up somewhere he could let it work its magic and hopefully rescue would find them soon.

He started climbing the tree until the branches were too thin to support his weight. He wedged the phone against the trunk of the tree and set the antenna out in the branches where it had a clear view of the sky. The cold was so intense Mac couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t feel his hands and he certainly couldn’t feel his feet. He was so cold he didn’t realize that he missed one of the branches as he tried to make his way back down the tree.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack was breaking branches from surrounding trees to add to the windward side of their tree shelter. He was working as fast as he could knowing it wouldn’t be long until they were all too tired to function.  They were all shivering and Jack couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had any feeling in his hands or toes. Not good signs.

As they worked he had been keeping half an eye on Mac and Riley to make sure they didn’t need help. But when he came back from gathering  a few more branches Mac had disappeared. Jack looked around, noticing Riley who was gathering more nettles. He also noticed that the fabric of Mac’s coat was making up part of their shelter.

“Damn it kid,” Jack muttered to himself as he looked again for Mac.

Then he heard branches breaking and saw Mac fall out of their shelter tree.

“Shit!” Jack ran to Mac’s side.

The kid wasn’t  moving when Jack reached him. Checking for a pulse Jack realized he couldn’t feel his own hand.

“Damn it.” he growled and leaned over Mac. Placing his ear on the boy’s chest he held his breath until he heard a heartbeat.

“Is he…” Riley asked.

Jack hadn’t noticed Riley join him at Mac’s side.

“He’s breathing.” Jack said as he looked over Mac. “But he landed on his arm. It could be broken.”

That’s when Mac groaned and turned his head to look at Jack. The kid started to roll over then stopped with a hiss of pain.

“Easy kid. Don’t move just yet.” Jack put a hand on Mac’s shoulder to enforce his words. “Now, Tell Uncle Jack where it hurts.”

He couldn’t help but try to lighten the mood. Jack was freaking out and when he freaked out he either hit something or made jokes. There was nothing around for him to hit so jokes it was.

“My arm,” Mac said, “and my head.”

“Yeah well that’s because you landed on them. I mean there’s no surprise you landed on your head, with that big brain of yours you’re a bit top heavy.”

Jack moved to look at Mac’s arm. Carefully he helped the kid sit up and checked him over.

“Well the good news is you’re still in one piece.” Jack said when he finished his inspection.

“What’s the bad news?” Mac asked.

“You have one broken piece.” Jack said pointing to Mac’s arm.

The wind picked up and Mac shivered, hissing  as the movement aggravated the pain in his arm.

“We’ve got to get this shelter finished.” Jack said.

Mac made to get up and Jack stopped him. “Not you kid. Riley and I can finish.”

“Right.” Riley chimed in. “I can finish the canopy.”

She moved away and started gathering nettles again.

“I can help.” Mac protested.

“We know you can help, but your hurt, and we don’t need you hurting yourself further.” Jack patted Mac’s good shoulder. “Best way you can help is to use that big brain of yours and figure out what else we might need to survive.”

Mac sighed then winced as another shiver shook him.

“Come on.” Jack offered a hand to the kid. “Let’s get you settled under the tree.”

Jack got Mac settled then went to finish making the shelter. Mac got Riley to help him splint his arm then sat and watched as the shelter came together. He would chime in with words of advice on occasion and soon Riley and Jack were anchoring the canopy to finish the shelter. Once they were all inside they were in close quarters.  Their backs were against the tree trunk where the canopy was at its highest. It slopped down from there till it reached the ground. Mac was sitting on one side so that his bad shoulder was on the outside and wouldn’t bump by accident. Jack had made Riley take the middle so he could buffer any wind that came through and he had place Mac on the most sheltered side where he had built up the shelter a little better.

“How are you holding up Mac?” Riley asked once they were settled.

“I’m fine.” Mac responded automatically.

“Yeah, you’re fine and it’s a balmy ninety degrees outside right now. Now stop slinging mud and tell us how you’re doing.” Jack leaned around Riley to look Mac in the eye.

“My arm hurts and I’m cold, but I’ll live.” Mac said.

Jack stared at the kid for a few moments then nodded.

“So, now what?” Riley asked.

“Now we shelter in place.” Mac said. “This storm is picking up, we’ll get lost if we try to make our way back to the road. I set the phone up in the tree so hopefully Patricia will have found it and is on her way with the cavalry.”

“No more climbing trees.” Jack muttered.

Mac rolled his eyes. “If no one has come for us by the time the storm ends we’ll try making our way back to the road.”

“Sounds good to me.” Riley said around a yawn. “I could use a nap.”

Jack frowned. “We should take turns staying awake. You and Mac rest up and I’ll keep watch for a while.”

Riley just nodded and leaned her head against Mac’s shoulder. Soon her breathing shallowed out into sleep. The shelter had warmed up a bit, not to say it was comfortable, but at least they weren’t freezing to death anymore.

“You warm enough Mac?” Jack asked.

“I’m fine.” Mac sounded tired.

Jack turned to look at the kid. Mac was pale and his eyes were closed as he rested his head on top of Riley’s. Jack had draped his coat on the kid as they settled in even though Mac had protested he would be fine without it.

“You think we’ll make it?” Jack muttered.

“We survived Cairo.” Mac smiled.

“I think is a little worse than Cairo.” Jack said.

“No, in Cairo we got captured, that was much worse.” Mac countered.

“In Cairo-“ Jack started.

“Will you two be quiet.” Riley interjected. “One day we’ll all be sitting down enjoying a few beers and then you will tell me all about Cairo. But right now I’m cold and tired and you two are going to shut up so Mac and I can get some rest.”

“She’s got a point.” Jack said. “Mac stop arguing with me and get some rest.”

“Jack, shut up.” Riley turned away from Jack and settled down to sleep.

Jack raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth but Mac shook his head. Leaning back against the tree Jack let the tent fall quiet. Soon he could hear Mac snoring softly. After a few minutes Riley turned over and looked at Jack.

“Mac’s going to be oaky right?”

Riley sounded so small and Jack was reminded she was still a kid. She’d only been with them a few months; she didn’t know Mac like he did and she certainly wasn’t trained for something like this.

“Mac is stronger than he looks. He’ll make it out of this. We’ll all make it out of this.” Jack was determined to make sure they got home.

Riley closed her eyes and this time she fell asleep and joined Mac in dreamland bliss.

The wind howled as the storm grew and shook the shelter. Wind leaked through so that it never got warm but the three of them were creating enough body heat to stave off frost bite. Jack tried not to worry but with nothing to do he couldn’t help but play out how this could end up over and over again in his head. Most scenarios he came up with ended badly, like Mac and Riley dead kind of bad. It made him paranoid and he kept checking to make sure both of them were still breathing.

There was no way to tell how long they sat like that. Jack was just about to wake Riley to take over when Mac started muttering in his sleep. At first it was just noises, no real words, then Jack heard a name.

“Nikki. Wait.”

Jack put a hand on Mac’s shoulder. The kid jolted awake and drew a sharp breath.

“Easy Mac, it’s just me. You were having a dream.”

“How long did I sleep?” Mac asked.

“Don’t know. The storm is still in full swing.” Jack sighed. “Help should be here by now.”

“I know.” Mac agreed.

“Maybe the storm is slowing them down, or it’s messing up the signal you sent.” Jack said.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Don’t do that.” Jack sighed.

“Do what?”

“Say ‘yeah’ even though you don’t agree.”

“I do agree.” Mac countered. “The weather could definitely be slowing them down.”

“But it wouldn’t mess up the signal. Is that what you’re saying?”

Mac didn’t answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goal: have last chapter posted before Christmas. 
> 
> Problem: last chapter hasn't been proof read.
> 
> Also: I wish I had a better title for this work... I hate how generic it is.
> 
> Now: I'm just making notes 'cause I'm bored.


	3. Chapter 3

The wind had died down and the snow fell listlessly to the ground. The storm wasn’t over, but for now the shelter was in a pocket, like the eye of a hurricane, where it seemed like maybe, at least for the moment, there was a chance for clear skies. To anyone looking, the shelter was just part of the forest. Snow had covered the fabric of the canopy enough that the causal observer would overlook it as part of the tree.

Inside the shelter the three friends had fallen asleep, their heads on each other’s shoulders. The warmth given off by their shared body heat was hardly enough to fight the chill of the winter air beyond their little den.

Mac suddenly woke up. He looked around a moment to get his barring. The shelter was dark so he could only just make out the form of Jack on the other side of Riley, whom Mac felt sleeping on his shoulder more then he saw her. Something had pulled him from his sleep but he didn’t know what. Then he heard it again.

Outside, beyond the defining silence of the winter forest, there was a soft crunching sound of someone walking through snow.

“Did you hear that?”

Mac nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Jack’s voice. He waited a moment before answering. “Someone’s close by.”

 “Wake Riley,” Jack said as he shifted to pulling his gun from its holster. “We might have to make a run for it.”

Mac used his good arm to shake Riley awake. The hacker’s first instinct was to ask what was going on, but Mac anticipated her and covered her mouth to silence her. When he felt her nod her agreement to stay quiet he leaned in and whispered to her, explaining the situation.  Riley tensed, like a cat gathering itself to pounce. They were as ready as they could be.

The sound of footsteps was closer and Mac realized he was hearing at least three different people. If the Russians had found them their odds of survival, well Mac didn’t think it was good. Feeling around in the dark Mac found some of the supplies from their packs. Not knowing what he had found he started pocketing what he could; one never knew what might come in handy.

The footsteps stopped. Mac guessed they were only a few feet away, so either they saw the shelter or they were looking around and would move on in a moment.

“Mac, Dalton, are you in there?”

Jack looked over at his companions then lifted the canopy and stuck his head out. “Hey Patty.”

Mac felt Riley relax as Jack made his way out of the shelter.

“Dalton, I’m assuming Riley and Mac are in there as well.” Patty said.

“We’re both right here.” Riley said as she climbed out after Jack.

“It’s good to see you Miss Davis.”

“Mac’s gonna need some help.” Jack said as he turned back to the shelter. “I hope you have a big old first aid kit on you Patty.”

“Paramedics are waiting back by the road to take you all to the hospital.” Thornton answered.

Jack helped Mac out of the shelter and supported the kid with an arm around the back. Normally Mac would protest but he had gone stiff sitting in the cold so lone and he wasn’t sure his legs would support him at the moment. Keeping his broken arm close to his side Mac took a few steps to join the rescue team and Patty.

“I’m glad you found us Thornton.” Mac said in way of greeting.

“I had a little help.” Patty looked between the three agents. “The GPS beacon you set up led us right to you.”

“That was all Mac.” Riley said.

“Yeah and he nearly killed himself setting it up.” Jack groused.

“I didn’t,” Mac tried to shove Jack but the older agent didn’t budge. “I fell, it wasn’t anything serious.”

“You did break your arm.” Riley offered.

“And you knocked yourself out for a bit there, not to mention cannibalizing your jacket and nearly freezing to death.” Jack continued.

Thornton raised an eyebrow at the trio. “Sounds like a long story. Which will wait until you’ve all seen a doctor.”

Signaling the other agents Patricia led the way back to the road. Paramedics quickly took charge of the three agents, bustling them into blankets and the back of the ambulance as fast as they could. Thornton followed the ambulance and meet back up with her team in the hospital.

Phoenix had secured one of the floors so there would be no threat to the team. Patty made her way through security and found Jack and Riley in one of the rooms. A nurse was with the two agents, trying to tend them as Jack made every effort to leave.

“I gotta find Mac.” Jack was telling the nurse as Patty entered the room.

“Your friend will be fine. He’s with Dr. Woodman getting his arm set.” The nurse said as she gently pushed Jack back against the bed.

At that point Jack caught sight of Thornton standing in the door way. “Hey, Patty, tell the nurse I can go see Mac.”

“Relax Dalton and let the woman do her job. Mac is in good hands.”

“Oh come on Patty, you know how the kid is, he hates doctors.” Jack shot back. “You should have heard him on the ride in. He kept trying to tell the paramedics that he was fine and that Riley needed their attention more than he did.”

“Hey,” Riley pipped in from her bed where she had set up her computer. “As I recall he was worried about you being hypothermic because you had given him your coat.”

“And your friend had good cause to worry,” the nurse said as she move around Jack’s bed to check the IV bag. “You need to rest Mr. Dalton and regain your strength. That goes for you too, Miss Davis. You need to turn off the computer and get some sleep.”

Both agents opened their mouths to protest but Thornton beat them to the chase. “She’s right, both of you were out in that blizzard for hours.  Right now your job is to rest and recover. I’ll take care of anything that comes up.”

Jack opened his mouth to respond but ended up yawning instead. “Idontneedtorest. M’fine.” He slurred even as he closed his eyes and relaxed into the bed.

The nurse checked Jack’s pulse then turned to face Riley. “Now, you can either put the laptop away or I can give you the same sedative I just gave Mr. Dalton here.”

Riley raised her hands in surrender before closing her laptop and setting it on the side table next to the bed. She shifted around till she was comfortable and closed her eyes.

The nurse putted around the room for a few more moments, checking the IV’s and the other equipment in the room. Then she made her way out into the hall and Thornton followed.

“Thank you Lisa.” Patty said once the door was closed behind them.

“No problem Director.”

Phoenix had also brought its own staff to treat their people. Patty wasn’t taking any chances that the team would get into any more danger on this mission.

“What’s the word on MacGyver?” Patty asked.

“Preliminary check showed frostbite, about the same as what the others had. MacGyver also broken his left forearm in two places and Dr. Woodman has set up a CT scan to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion.”

Patty thanked Lisa again and made her way through the hall until she found MacGyver and Dr. Woodman. Mac was sitting on a bed, his arm was in a cast. Across from him Dr. Woodman was examining the computer read out of the CT scan.

“How are you feeling MacGyver?” Patty asked.

Mac didn’t hesitate to respond, “I’m fine.”

“You most certainly are not fine Mr. MacGyver.” Dr. Woodman interjected.

“Please just call me Mac.” Mac hated being called ‘Mr.’ it always reminded him of his father./made him feel old.

“Well, Mac, aside from having a broken arm and frost bit, this scan is telling me that you have a rather serious concussion. Can you tell me exactly when you hit you head?”

“I’m not sure how long ago it was. We weren’t really keeping an eye on the clock.” Mac said trying to avoid the question.

“I believe the doctor is trying to figure out _how_ you bumped your head.” Patricia said. She knew Mac well enough see that he was avoiding the topic.

“When I fell out of the tree I must have hit my head on the ground. Next thing I knew Jack was looming over me.”

“You lost consciousness?” Dr. Woodman asked.

“I guess, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.” Mac hedged.

“Is everything alright?” Patty asked.

“Well I believe Mr. MacGyver here gave himself a rather serious concussion. The good news is that I’m not seeing any signs of bleeding from the scan. But I want to keep him for at least 24 hours.”

“I don’t need to be kept under watch.” Mac groused. “Patty, come on, I’ll be fine.”

“Doctor’s orders Mac.” Patty said not at all sympathetic towards Mac’s plea for help. “Besides Jack and Riley are both on bed rest for the time being. Nobody is going anywhere.”

“That’s ridicules. Patty there’s no need-“

“If you won’t listen to the doctor’s orders,” Patty warned. “Then consider this a direct order from me. You’re staying and getting some rest.”

Mac rolled his eyes but conceded. “Alright since no one is leaving anyway. But can I at least be in the same room as Jack.”

What he didn’t say was that he hated hospitals and was hoping Jack would distract him with talk so he didn’t have to think about why he hated hospitals.

“Jack and Riley are both in a room down the hall. There’s a bed already made up for you there.” Patty answered.

With that settled they moved Mac to the other room and let him get settled in. Patty thanked Dr. Woodman for coming in to help with the team and made sure there wasn’t anything else that needed to be done before she returned to check on her three agents.

When Patty opened the door she found all three of them asleep. Jack was lying on his back with his mouth wide open as he snored. Riley was curled on her side, clutching her cell phone even as she slept. As for Mac, he was sitting mostly upright, his head listing to one side and his good arm resting in his lap where a book was sitting open. He must have fallen asleep while reading.

Patty smiled and closed the door gently behind her as she left the team to rest.


End file.
